This blog follows the progress of Milo & Madeline Stiles, born in June 2008 at 25 weeks, 2 days gestation, for their friends and family and anyone else who'd like to know about life with premature kids.
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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Weekend Update with Milo & Maddy

The Quick Facts for Today.

MILOWeight: 6 lbs 9.4 ozs.Feedings: 60 mls of breast milk every 3 hours - every other feed by nipple (breast or bottle)Discharge date: Probably a couple weeks, but (as always) it's up to him.Other items: Milo had a another eye exam yesterday and his retinopathyappears to be an issue that will resolve without significant complication and very likely without surgery. Milo will probably be wearing some thick glasses though -- which we all know chicks dig. He will need surgery (like almost all premature males) to correct his scrotal hernia - probably in a couple months. His liver values are improving, and his color is getting much better. He was examined by a pulmonologist yesterday, and his lungs are looking very good -- all things considered. Though, he will likely go home on diuretics. The pulmonologist says that we should not take M&M to elevations above 6000 feet this winter, but they can start snowboarding next winter.

To snip or not to snip? The Great Circumcision Debate of 2008 has commenced! Feel free to make your opinion known.

MADELINEWeight: 6 lbs 10.8 ozs (bigger than Milo!)Feedings: Ad lib (as much as she wants, when she wants it)Discharge date: Brady watch -- if she can go 5 days without a bradycardia, she gets to go home.Other items: Maddy likes to eat -- a lot! She's like Uncle Jeff U. at an all-you-can-eat sushi bar. With any luck, she's had her last surgery and major medical procedure. She will go home on some potent vitamins -- particularly iron -- in order to help her keep strong and growing.

On a serious note - The pulmonologist was pretty emphatic that we need to be hyper-vigilant about about keeping the babies from getting a colds or flu. Actually he said "Nazi-like." No grocery stores, restaurants, air planes, subways, or anywhere where there are lots of people gathered in close spaces. Definitely no day care. Everyone who touches the babies must have washed hands first -- and obviously not have a cold or flu. (Look for the 50 or bottles of Purel we'll likely have around our house :). Basically, the consequence of M&M catching even a simple cold is likely a very, very long hospital stay or worse. There's a very nasty bug out there known as RSV which, as luck would have it, is highly contagious and incredibly common that does very bad things to preemies. The babies will receive a monthly vaccine against the virus, which runs about $700 a pop (thanks TriCare!), but every germ and bug is an enemy for at least until next summer. If we seem unreasonable about this, please bear with us. That said, we definitely welcome visitors and all of our friends and family to visit and hold the babies. After all, most of you are pretty clean ;) Thanks!

Chubby Maddy mugs for the camera yesterday.

Maddy expresses her opinion in advance of the first presidential debate.

Milo enjoying some time with Mom. He's got a little more of the "peanut head" effect typical to preemies. Madeline had some of the same thing, and it went away once she was able to pack on weight with her ad lib feedings.

Maddy sleeping soundly and preparing for another night of partying with the nurses.

Milo at rest and looking forward to the permanent removal of his gavage tube.

9 comments:

I can't believe how big M&M are getting! And progress sounds steady and strong. The "Stiles Four" rocks! We love reading the blog and are constantly in awe of how incredibly you have coped over the past few months, bringing the babies so far already.Go, cleanliness Nazis, I say! Everyone has to understand how vital it is that germs stay away from all of you and I am sure all visitors will more than respect that. I still remember Rob opening the bathroom door of Rudy's with his elbow after washing his hands. He is a natural Hygiene-Nazi! :)H xxx

Well, we thouhgt it would be fun to inject some levity by having folks weigh in on the issue. We actually made the decision a while ago. What's the verdict? You'll have to come over and change a diaper to find out! ;)

Yey to the twins coming home soon! As to the great (snip) question - I say if you can find one piece of scientific literature that shows the benefit of mutilating the kid, go for it. Otherwise, hasn't he been through enough? ;-) If he's bothered by the natural look, he can always choose to chop himself up later in life and won't ever blame his parents for choosing for him... how's that for an unbiased opinion? :-D

Hey Rob & Elaine! I had to weigh in on the RSV worries. With our son Avery, 3, we were super vigilant just because we were new parents. We took all kinds of criticism, rolled eyes, you name it from both of our families but we had a little boy who never got sick once all year. Then our daughter Grace, 1, was born a month early and spent a few weeks in the NICU with breathing issues, and well, we became even more vigilant. She just got her first cold last week and she's 14 months old. Even our closest friends and relatives would come to the house knowing they were sick because they didn't believe there was any real harm. We figured seeing Grace hooked up to all those monitors would have been enough for her family to support her in this way, but people just don't get the severity of RSV in particular and never consider themselves "sick enough". Just be firm with people. Remind them of your experience of waiting all these days to bring these babes home, and that all babies should be protected from getting illnesses so young. This is guidance for all parents, not just those of premies, but there will always be those parents who stroll around the mall with their newborns during flu season, sigh. Probably our biggest annoyance in public is that strangers will touch your kids without you having the chance to stop them. They often grab their hands, which is the worst place to touch babies who put their hands in their mouth all day. Good luck keeping everyone healthy...lots of sleep helps! Get your flu shots asap if you haven't already! So many people think they don't need one, they never get sick. It is those people that don't vaccinate that put the rest of us at greater risk. All caregivers, grandparents/aunts, etc. that are by your babies should get vaccinated too. We always require our nanny to get vaccinated each year. Our kids aren't in daycare in order to keep them from getting sick at such a young age and given Grace's early issues. We really believed synagist would be good for Grace, but she ended up being 1day too old according to the insurance. 1 day! The NICU head wrote a passionate letter appealing their decision, but to no avail. We just worked extra hard especially around the holidays to just keep to ourselves this first year, and luckily made it through without her ever having to reenter the hospital (our greatest fear). It is such a relief when kids turn 1 and you can start to see them as a bit stronger and better equipped to face common illnesses...Good luck!